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Appropriation Or Nah? Twitter Is Calling Out A ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Star For Acting Like A ‘Sassy Black Girl’

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Appropriation Or Nah? Twitter Is Calling Out A ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Star For Acting Like A ‘Sassy Black Girl’

Her interesting performance seemed to be quite the standout.

Published August 20th

Crazy Rich Asians, the highly anticipated film that's reportedly set to further push for the necessary expansion of cultural and racial diversity in Hollywood, has garnered critical acclaim.

However, several of the everyday patrons who have seen the recently released movie seem to agree on one sentiment regarding one of its stars, and it all centers around the topic of Black cultural appropriation.

The actress in question who is being accused of putting on what many dub her now signature "real-life Blackface" is rapper and actress Awkwafina — real name Nora Lum.

The aspect of her role, like several of her others, that grasped the attention of many for the wrong reasons, is her hard-to-miss "Blaccent" and "urban" mannerisms that, as several viewers have noted on social media, is often cringeworthy to witness.

Take a look at a couple of clips highlighting her performance in the film, below:

While Crazy Rich Asians, itself, has performed well at the box office during its opening day, grossing $5 million, and was also certified "fresh" by Rotten Tomatoes with a 92% rating, a significant chunk of its viewership doesn't seem to share those same sentiments, specifically regarding Awkwafina's contribution.

After watching the film, several people took to Twitter to express their gripe with the 29-year-old star's approach to the role with one viewer claiming she "built her entire career off of Blackness."

See their clear critiques, below:

Awkwafina has built her ENTIRE career off of Blackness—her "rap," her roles in Oceans 8 & CRA, her image are ALL minstrel affectations of Black American culture, music, & dress. She monetizes performing Blackness—to be rewarded for Black culture in a way that Black ppl are not. pic.twitter.com/H5Ymi0XVZj

I find Awkwafina's character in Crazy rich Asians very problematic. If a Black person put on a fake Chinese accent and portrayed Chinese culture in a caricature-like way, do you think it would be as well received? Let's examine that pic.twitter.com/PzaGRqQZWK

I feel like if Awkwafina were white, ole girl wouldn't have made that thread defending her blaccent. "Awkwafina grew up around Black people" wouldn't be an excuse. The issue would suddenly become very, very clear.

At the screening I attended of Crazy Rich Asians the mostly black crowd seemed to love everything but Awkwafina. They did not like her at all. her jokes fell flat. ppl sighed when she was on screen. Someone yelled “next!” Idk what that was about.

I don’t understand people who are defending Awkwafina speaking AAVE in #CrazyRichAsians by saying “but she grew up around black people so that’s how she talks” because... she’s meant to be acting? And her character is Chinese Singaporean and did not grow up in Queens.

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